Known for lunch, pie and that mermaids mural, Tacoma sandwich spot turning 53
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- This year marks 53 years of soups, pies and sandwiches in Tacoma.
- Much of the food is made from scratch, including the marionberry pie.
- The restaurant closed for about two weeks in April after a woman drove into its side.
Although the lunch rush had slowed, customers still lined up inside the Antique Sandwich Co. near Point Defiance Park in Tacoma last week and settled into antique chairs.
This year will mark 53 years the Herridge family has served soups, pies, coffee, salads, quiches and sandwiches (with or without sprouts) at 5102 N. Pearl St. Although many assume the restaurant is in the city of Ruston, the owners confirmed last week that their side of the block is technically Tacoma.
You’ve likely driven past the building, which sports a beautiful blue mural of a woman enjoying a cup of coffee on its facade, and on the side, another elaborate mural of two Indigenous mermaids surrounded by sea life, painted by local artist Mary Mann. Down the block, picnic tables on an open lawn advertise “The Antique Sandwich Co. Garden of Eatin’.”
The Antique Sandwich Co. recently was closed for about two weeks to replace the kitchen flooring and do some other upgrades after a woman accidentally drove into the side of the building. On April 14 co-owners and sisters-in-law Tamie and Shirley Herridge sat down with The News Tribune to talk more about why this Tacoma staple remains so well-loved.
History on the walls and on the menu
Tamie’s mother, Arlene, purchased the building vacant in 1973 and convinced the family to move down to Tacoma from Seattle. Arlene opened an antique store there (hence the name), and Tamie and Shirley made sandwiches and sold what’s thought to be the first espresso in Tacoma — something that’s hard to believe in a region known for its coffee.
Prior to the Herridge family’s ownership, the building served as a grocery store in 1916 to families working at the Asarco Co.’s copper smelter plant in Ruston. The upstairs was an Oddfellows Hall that held dances, weddings and parties and later became a small movie theater.
In the 1970s, “We grew up in Seattle, and Tacoma, at the time, was kind of like the last place Seattle people wanted to live,” Tamie said. “But it turned out to be the best. Great location, right by the park, right by the ferry, right by the zoo, right by the aquarium, coming up from the water.”
Over the decades, not much has changed. All the food is made from scratch, including the marionberry pie. Meats for the sandwiches are roasted and sliced in the back. Granola is made in house and shipped to longtime customers who have moved away from Tacoma to places like Alaska, Vermont, Arizona and New York but still crave their special mix.
Upon opening in 1973, coffee was sold for 19 cents a cup (”That was pretty expensive,” Shirley said). She recalled a bagel sold for 35 cents or so and a peanut butter and jam sandwich sold for 45 cents, with a salad. When Arlene passed away, the family sold most of the antiques (although some still hang on the walls). Tamie’s life partner, Dick Meyer, sells fair-trade gifts in the store. In 1983 when a large fire ravaged the place, the community rallied to fix it, Tamie said.
When asked if they remember any celebrities visiting the restaurant over the years, the duo recalled actors stopping for a bite after filming “10 Things I Hate About You” at Stadium High School in the late 1990s. Bill McLain, who hosted “The Brakeman Bill Show” in the Seattle-Tacoma area from 1955 to 1975 was known to visit. Broadcast journalist Amy Goodman from “Democracy Now!” also has eaten at Antique Sandwich Co.
Looking around the store, history is everywhere. A marble statue of Colombo sitting among the tables was carved in Italy for the 1893 Columbia Exhibition in Chicago using the same marble as Michelangelo. The wooden bar back, behind the cash register and espresso machine, was originally from an Alaskan saloon during the gold rush in the 1890s.
Right before opening the family saw an advertisement for the bar back in a Seattle newspaper, Tamie said. The bar back was disassembled, “a pile of wood,” and the family spent the summer before they opened stripping the black paint from it.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tamie remembers closing the store for about a month (although she wasn’t exactly sure). Until COVID, they hosted an open mic for local live music every week, and it’s “still unclear” if it will ever return, Shirley said. Jazz still happens from 4-6 p.m. the second Sunday of every month.
In the current inflationary environment, prices have gone up, but the Herridges are still trying to keep the menu affordable, they said. The family owns the building, so “We’re in a lucky situation,” Tamie said.
As for why people keep coming back?
“The food is really good. We take a lot of care,” Shirley said. “We’re really into quality.”
“I think it’s also because we’ve just been here so long,” Tamie added. “They come in because they like it.”
